You should have known
by Pissed Off Poet1
Summary: Petunia Dursley should have known Harry would return after the war had been fought. She should have known he would be back, and would have things to say.


A:N/ Standard disclaimers apply, please read authors not at the bottom

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Petunia Dursley was sitting in her small sitting room enjoying her afternoon tea, when she was interrupted by a brisk knock on the door. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked at the door.

Could it be? Could it be her Dudley coming for a visit?

With a groan, she rose and headed for the door

She was not as young as she used to be.

The last few years had been hard on Petunia Dursley. After her husband's death two years ago, and finding out that he had squandered his retirement on only God knows what, Petunia had been forced to take a part time job to pay the bills.

And Dudley, her precious boy, who said he had no time to help look after her now that he had his own family to look after.

Dudley had gotten married to a young woman not too long ago, to a woman Petunia hardly approved of. Christina Webber was a boorish, rude woman who openly criticized Petunia. Though Petunia was secretly glad that the woman did not want to visit, Petunia longed for the company of her son, and her first grandson.

Dudley had said they would stop by soon.

But to her, soon had come and gone.

But like a good mother she would wait. Surly Dudley had some things at work to take care of, or had been too busy with raising his son, or perhaps he had forgotten.

Never the less, she would wait for her son.

She opened the door, ready to greet her son, but as she looked at the man on her door step, dressed in a business suite, with a clean shaven face, she stopped dead in her tracks as she looked the man in the eyes.

Those green eyes.

She would know those eyes from anywhere.

Harry Potter fidgeted under his aunt's scrutinizing gaze.

"Are you going to invite me in," he asked in a soft voice. "Or shall we have this little reunion on the front step so all of the neighbors can see?"

She huffed, and pulled her nephew in the house by his sleeve.

"What do you want?" She demanded. "If you've come begging for money, well you can just-"

She stopped at the sound of his laughing.

"Do I look like I really need the money Aunt Petunia? My parents and Godfather have left me more than enough to provide for my family and myself."

Though Petunia could have said something about it, about how he had not bothered to share any of his wealth with the family that provided for him for most of his life, she was more concerned about getting him out of her house as soon as possible incase Dudley decided to drop by.

"What do you want?" She asked folding her arms across her chest. She frowned when Harry had made himself comfortable on her couch

"I'm surprised you don't already know," he said.

"Know what?" She snapped, in no mood for games.

Harry gave her a wan smile.

"I thought you would have known I would be back."

"Back," She asked, a little frightened now.

He stood. "You and your family spent the first sixteen years of my live treating me worse than you would dirt under your fingernails. I have been starved, abused, uncared for, and unloved. I am now an adult, and a fully trained wizard. Did you really think I would stay away, after all of that?"

Petunia sat now, truly terrified of what her nephew would do.

"I'm not going to hurt you Aunt Petunia," he said in a quiet pained voice.

"Then what?" she whispered. "What do you want from me?"

"I just want to know if you're happy."

She frowned at the odd question. Wasn't he going to yell, accuse her of not taking care of him? Her confusion must have shown, Harry took a deep breath and continued.

"All of your life you have strived for a "normal life." I just wanted to know if you have it."

She folded her hands in her lap and pondered his question.

Had her life been as perfect and as normal as she had imagined when she had married Vernon? She had thought so. She had though being the envy of all of the other women in the neighborhood, having a perfect son, would give her that life.

She had though when she had taken on her nephew her idea of a perfect life had come to an end.

But had it? Had her life ever been that perfect?

Her husband had never been a perfect man. He drank too much, he ate too much, and he hardly paid attention to what was right in front of him, but when he did, the results were disastrous.

Harry cleared his throat, pulling her out of her musings.

He must have taken her silence for an answer.

She opened her mouth to say something, but what was there to say?

Her life had never been perfect.

He gave a small smile, and Petunia had to look away.

He smiled just like his mother.

"I'm married," he said. "I have three children, James, Albus and Lily." He handed her a small photo which she put on the table without looking at it.

He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face.

"Despite what happened, despite what you wanted to happen with your life, I happened. You were stuck with me and I was stuck with you. I could have come here and made a big production of things. I could have paid you back for all of the shit you and uncle Vernon have given me throughout my childhood, but I didn't. I won't, because despite it all, I am a better man than that."

Petunia said nothing. She turned away from Harry and desperately wished for something, anything to happen to get her away from this mess he was dredging up.

Harry stood, and sighed.

"I didn't mean to bring up bad memories," he said softly. "I just came by see if you were alright."

"Why?" she almost sobbed, "after the way that we've treated you, after everything, why?"

"Because it was the right thing to do," he said and dropped an envelope on the table.

"You should have known I would come back Aunt Petunia." He said and left.

She would have thrown the bulky envelope in the trash right away, had she not been so curious. She opened the envelope and sighed fighting back tears.

He had left her enough money to live out the rest of her days.

Her nephew, the boy who had lived in the cupboard under her stairs for almost eleven years, he had come back. He had come back and taken care of her. Despite it all, he still cared.

She put down the envelope and picked up her tea cup with shaking hands. Staring out the window she waited for Dudley. Her son would come too.

She hoped.

End

So this comes after months of writers block, which I am still trying to overcome. And with a new semester of college starting soon, I doubt I'll have much time to write, but I do have another story in the works that goes along with Shadow Boy. I'm very excited about it, but it'll take some time to be posted.

This story idea came to me after reading many stories about Harry going to visit his family after the war. And while the Dursley would seemed shocked to see their nephew I imagined Harry saying, "You should have known I would come back" Because why wouldn't he?

Thanks for reading, and please review.


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